Adobe CS5 New Features & Suite Comparison

Buying Guide

This Adobe Creative Suite buying guide helps you compare the CS5 software suites, without the headaches. Adobe has narrowed its CS5 collections to five this time around (no more Web Standard) and each is bundled to suit the needs of the creative artist in any field. With this CS5 buying guide you can learn about the new CS5 features, see the differences between Adobe CS5 vs CS4, compare the CS5 price with its various editions, and more.

Adobe CS5 Suite Comparison	CS5 Design Standard	CS5 Design Premium	CS5 Web Premium	CS5 Production Premium	CS5 Master Collection
Windows Price	$1095.00	$1325.00	$1299.00	$1395.00	$1995.00
MAC Price	$1095.00	$1325.00	$1299.00	$1395.00	$1995.00
Photoshop CS5
Photoshop CS5 Extended
Illustrator CS5
InDesign CS5
Acrobat 9 Pro
Flash Catalyst CS5
Flash Professional CS5
Flash Builder 4
Dreamweaver CS5
Fireworks CS5
Contribute CS5
Premiere Pro CS5
After Effects CS5
Soundbooth CS5
Add-on Apps
OnLocation CS5
Encore CS5
Bridge CS5
Device Central CS5
Dynamic Link

Adobe has once again outdone itself and created a fine set of Creative Suite products which are sure to please. The team took suggestions from the users and enhanced many of Creative Suite's tools; like on-stage video scrubbing in Flash Pro CS5, or the ability to align layers to comps in After Effects CS5. In addition, Adobe boasts a huge list of great new features for CS5. Here is a sampling of some of the most popular new CS5 features to look forward to:

Puppet Warp - in Photoshop, turn objects on your flat photos into moldable "puppets" to change the pose to better fit the scene. No more awkward body angles nor boring straight positions.

Resolution-independent effects - nothing's worse than text or an image getting distorted when applied to a different sized screen. With Illustrator CS5, that's no longer an issue.

Mercury Playback Engine - Adobe introduced its native 64-bit, GPU-accelerated Mercury Playback Engine with Premiere Pro CS5. This allows the program to fully utilize your system's power to load, scrub, render, and play your project faster and more reliably.

Roto Brush is a new After Effects tool, similar to Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill, which allows you to isolate foreground objects from background in virtually no time at all. A must have when dealing with complex backgrounds.

Checkout what others here around the office have said about Adobe CS5 new features; in particular, see our hands-on example of Content-Aware Fill.

When deciding between Adobe's Creative Suites, many ask, "Which is better: CS5 or CS4?" One nice element behind Adobe's creations is they always build upon their predecessors. Creative Suite 5 utilizes the foundation set in Creative Suite 4, which eliminates the learning curve involved with starting a new program. Many of CS4's features have been enhanced in CS5, giving the user more flexibility to design how he/she wants.

One of the differences between Adobe CS5 vs CS4 is their change from Flex Builder to Flash Builder. While the program itself remains the same (minus a few enhancements/updates), the fact that the name has gone from "Flex" to "Flash" has caused a bit of an outcry from developers. Their main concern has been in regards to the negative stigma Flash has in the corporate world, i.e. "Annoying Flash Ad Banners" from years back. The more surprising change with the Adobe CS5 Collections, however, has been in the omission of Web Standard. With CS5, users will now be forced to "go for the Gusto" with Web Premium. Some may not like having to pay the extra cash for the Premium edition, but the added software it includes more than makes up for it. Instead of the very basic Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, and Contribute combo, with CS5 Web Premium you also get Photoshop Extended and Illustrator, as well as the new Flash Builder and the all new Flash Catalyst. These other products are a welcome addition to the web designer's arsenal.